Countries and companies will be paid to stop logging forests under World Bank plan; carbon credit market to help companies meet emissions targets by paying developing countries to halt logging

Countries and companies will be paid to stop logging forests under a World Bank plan to establish a fund aimed at reshaping the fight against climate change, reported Mark Forbes in Jakarta for The Sydney Morning Herald (25/9/2007, p.10).

Pulp mill in Tasmania to lead to massive deforestation: and 10 million tonnes of greenhouse emissions every year, Greens Senator says

Christine Milne, Senator for Tasmania, Australian Greens Party, recorded in the Senate Hansard, Commonwealth of Australia, 11 September 2007 said the Gunns pulp mill in Tasmania has not been assessed for its greenhouse gas emissions. “We have a Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation who tried to mislead the parliament when I asked the question about the pulp mill by saying that the Australian Greenhouse Office measures carbon in forests and so on. I asked specifically about the pulp mill proposal. Under the RPDC process, the greenhouse gas emissions were to be assessed. Once that process was dumped by the Lennon government, there was no prospect of the greenhouse gas emissions being assessed”.

Preference negotiations between Labor and Greens to have a significant impact on federal election; Greens want all of Labor’s preferences in Senate

Preference negotiations be­tween Labor and the Greens, which could have a significant im­pact on the federal election, were growing increasingly fractious, reported The Sydney Morning Herald (11/9/2007, p.6).

Federal judge Robert French rejects ATO’s case that investor’s $30,000 to grow Indian sandalwood between 1998 and 2000 had main purpose of avoiding tax

According to Patrick Durkin in The Australian Financial Review (17/9/2007, p.8), the Australian Taxation Office’s push to outlaw tax deductions for agricultural investment schemes had suffered a setback after a court ruled they could constitute a “serious commercial venture”.

Controversy surrounds Gunns Tasmania pulp mill: foresters pressure mill opponents amid suggestions of corruption and secrecy

As then Labor leader Mark Latham found out, the politics of Tasmania’s marginal seats, Bass and Braddon, are more quicksand than woodchip, reported The Australian (15/9/2007, p. 26).

WA pastoralists asked to vote on the Government’s proposed model for environmental management of the rangelands

Western Australia’s pastoralists would have the opportunity to have a direct say on the State Government’s proposed model for pastoral leases for environmental management of the rangelands by getting to vote on the model, reported Farm Weekly, (06/09/2007, p.12) quoting State Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah McTiernan.

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon shows “poor judgment”; Gunns saga whirls towards Turnbull’s desk, oiled by 700 submissions

Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon had not helped himself, showing poor judgment when he allowed a company owned by Gunns to renovate his home when the state Government was trying to push through the $2 billion pulp-mill project for Gunns, according to The Australian (15/9/2007, p. 26).